Pain is Penance
by Stephaniesaurus
Summary: A series of Valjean and Javert one shots and drabbles that are a product of my own angsty sadness. As a warning, I'm telling you that this is going to be like a Greek Tragedy. Everyone you love will die or get hurt at some point. Majority will be Valvert slash.
1. Atlas Falls

**Warning:** Major Character Death

* * *

Jean Valjean had not meant for this to happen.

The possibility was non-existent as he had dragged the bound Inspector into the alley behind the wine shop and slit his bonds, the other fully expecting him to slit his wrists instead. Indeed, the whole idea of what he was doing now wasn't something Valjean had ever entertained.

However, never having dreamed of Javert's lips moulded against his own didn't make the act any less right. For a few short moments in that dirty alley, rats running wild around their feet, Valjean forgot all of the stress and worries that had mounted themselves upon his back, like the Earth upon Atlas.

But they returned soon enough and warnings of being discovered whispered in his ear even as he continued to run a hand through Javert's blood crusted hair. Valjean ignored the other tendrils of thought that had nothing to do with the sounds that he was sure were not entirely from the other man. He rejected any notion of his duty to protect Marius and instead chased Javert's mouth with his own when the Inspector pulled away for air.

A loud bang and Javert's form slumping against him pulled him back from that world of ignorance, and all of these warnings and worries came crashing down upon Jean Valjean, causing him more pain than the bullet that pierced his side.


	2. Two Stars

**Warning:** Major Character Death

* * *

Javert wasn't entirely sure what made him do it, but he could think of a number of excuses. It could have been the exhaustion, the hunger, the blow to his head, the stress and humiliation of being captured by children. All of these were suitable lies to protect his pride but none of them sounded real. It was the way Valjean's eyes had glowed like stars in the dim light of the alley that had forced him to meld his lips to the others.

Despite the excuses that ran through his mind, Javert couldn't bring himself to regret his moment of madness, not when Valjean was responding in such a way that Javert saw more stars than he ever had from the rooftop.

Through the blaze of night fire, Javert saw the leader of those childish dreamers, the Apollo, emerge from the shop with righteous anger twisting his features and the weapon in his hand twisting his morals, for the gun was aimed directly at an oblivious man's shoulder.

Shuffling Valjean to the right and out of the boy's aim in time had been far too easy. Valjean, still absorbed with Javert's mouth, was thankfully unaware of the new target in the blonde's sights.

When the gun fired and pain wracked Inspector Javert's body, he felt only the joy of dying with purpose and the relief of not having to watch his star burn out.


	3. Natural Selection

**Warning:** Major Character Death

* * *

Valjean was pleading with him again, even as Javert thrust his weapon forward with more anger and less precision each time, and Valjean blocked the blows with the precision of a man favoured by a deity.

Threats and explanations and promises babbled forth from the brute's lips with every step the Inspector gained, Valjean swinging the wood desperately as he was backed into the corner, the law fighting the criminal, crocodile cornering the bear. It wouldn't be long until the bear let loose his claws, revealed that he was a monstrous beast instead of the demure circus animal to be gazed at with wonder. But the crocodile always bested the bear – it was nature's law.

Valjean struck out in a panic, the beam striking Javert square in the chest twice, where his stone heart rattled in it's cage of broken bone as he fell.

As the formidable Inspector of M-sur-M took in the last view he would ever see, that of the bear's horrified face, a crocodile's smile stretched across his lips. It seemed nature had a few tricks up her sleeve, after all.


	4. Let Go

**Warning:** Major Character Death

* * *

_Don't let go_ was all that ran through Jean Valjean's mind like the churning Seine below, though whether it was an order to him or Javert was debateable. Don't let go. That was all that mattered right now, not if Javert would arrest him when he pulled him back onto the bridge.

The inspector's eyes bore into his own, wide and alight with the panic that coursed through them both. Valjean didn't know if they were pleading for him to save him or to let him drop into the cleansing waters that ran beneath them.

Sharp nails pressed into the delicate skin of his wrist, just as his did to Javert's, but it wasn't enough to stop the slow, inevitable slipping. Valjean's strength was waning; he could feel exhaustion in his very bones. He willed for a last burst of stamina.

A forbidden thought danced before his eyes. Could he have left Marius at the barricade if it meant he could save Javert? Javert, who was still clasping his hand within his shaking one and whose eyes were slowly turning from burning flames of fear to the dead ashes in a fireplace.

No, he couldn't have left Marius there and rob Cosette of her happiness.

Javert slid down again, their sweaty fingers the only grounding they had. It was hopeless, Valjean knew, but that didn't stop him hoping for a miracle.

Valjean clung to the Inspector, his hand a shackle around Javert's wrist. Bound together in life. Javert's eyes were still staring into his own, half mad in the street light, but holding the resignation of a man doomed to an eternity of pain. If Javert – the most annoyingly persistent Inspector there was – had truly given up, then there was nothing he could do. Those who did not wish to be saved couldn't be.

_I'm sorry_, Valjean mouthed. It felt wrong to utter a sound at such a time, not when Valjean held a man's life in his palms.

_No, you're not_, Javert's mouthed back, and he pulled his fingers away, still with that grin on his face.

Valjean watched Javert fall to an icy hell that held no fondness for men such as him. The crack he heard after he closed his eyes was enough to tell him there would be no use in jumping in after him.


	5. Survival

**Warning:** Major Character Death

* * *

Inspector Javert had to go. That was the only conclusion he could come to.

He was causing the good Monsieur Madeleine too many problems, too many worries, too many feelings – and the convict was not supposed to feel for his oppressor. Nevertheless, the man who was his nightmare had become his dream.

And this was precisely why Inspector Javert could no longer exist.

"One moment please, Inspector." The plan was half formed before he had even realised what he was doing.

The first part of the mayor's task was complete.

Javert was, as usual, prompt and standing at Monsieur Madeleine's door at 7 o'clock. Valjean wished that he wasn't.

Even as the other man had stepped through his door and he had removed his coat, all the while returning Madeleine's smile, the part that was Valjean was screaming.

"Good evening, Monsieur le Maire."

"Good evening, Inspector. Thank you for joining me." _I wish you hadn't._

"I have never missed a meal, Monsieur." _Please stop smiling._

"Please take a seat, Javert. Dinner will be served shortly." _Leave._

"Thank you, Monsieur." _Can't you see? You see everything else._

"Good, Inspector." _I'm so sorry._

It was with Javert's head pillowed against Madeleine's shoulder that he committed the unforgivable. But, even as the good mayor firmly held the pillow and Javert writhed in a parody of their last act together, and even as Valjean sobbed inside himself, Madeleine knew that he would not have to worry, because now everything would be okay. He would be okay.

For Madeleine knew that if he were to live, all of Valjean had to die.

After a few short months, nobody could ever recall the fierce man that was Inspector Javert.


End file.
